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Twinkling Wallflower

#b4b409
Notes

Twinkling Wallflower (#B4B409) is a true yellow with a jewel character. It carries the deep, saturated richness of a gemstone. Authoritative and slightly formal, it works well for type and heavy UI elements. Its HSL profile (60°, 90%, 37%) places it in the highly saturated band at a mid lightness. Best used in small doses, like logos, CTAs, focus rings, or highlight text, where its saturation becomes a feature rather than noise. For a confident two-color system, pair it with its complementary blue. For something softer, pull in its analogous neighbors on either side of the wheel.

HEX
#b4b409
RGB
rgb(180, 180, 9)
HSL
hsl(60, 90%, 37%)
HWB
hwb(60 4% 29%)
OKLCH
oklch(74.5% 0.161 109.7)
HSV
hsv(60, 95%, 71%)
LAB
lab(71.12% -16.49 71.72)
LCH
lch(71.12% 73.59 102.95)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 0%, 95%, 29%)

Etymology

Twinkling
adjective

Old English twinclian, to wink rapidly — present-participle of twinkle. As a color modifier, twinkling implies a saturated-and-rapid-flicker-reflective quality, the bright color of Christmas-fairy-light and night-sky-star atmospheric-scintillation. Sits at the bright-and-reflective end of the grid, parallel to sparkling and glittering in usage.

Wallflower
noun

Erysimum cheiri, the European biennial whose fragrant yellow-orange flowers cover medieval-castle walls (the source of the name) and cottage gardens in late spring. The color refers to a fresh wallflower bloom in May: a saturated, slightly red yellow with the satin finish of four-petaled mustard-family flower.

Closest matches

The nearest named color in three reference sources, ranked by perceptual distance (ΔE76 in CIELAB). ΔE < 1 is imperceptible to most viewers; ΔE > 10 is clearly different. When two sources point to the same hex they’re merged into one tile; click any to open that color’s page.

Variations

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Harmonies

Accessibility

Color-vision simulation

How this color appears to viewers with the four major color-vision-deficiency types. Computed via the Machado (2009) physiologically-based model. If a tile matches the original, the color reads the same to that viewer.

#b4b409
Original
#c4ac00
Protanopia
#c5b023
Deuteranopia
#c2a899
Tritanopia
#a8a8a8
Achromatopsia
WCAG contrast

The color used as foreground text against pure white and pure black, with the contrast ratio and WCAG 2.1 grade. Aim for AA (4.5:1) for body text and AA Large (3:1) for 18 pt+ headlines; AAA (7:1) is the gold standard for long-form reading surfaces.

The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
Failon White
2.22:1
The quick brown foxSample body text at normal size. The wcag minimum for body contrast is 4.5:1 (AA) or 7:1 (AAA).
AAAon Black
9.47:1

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